


Three Phone Calls

by One_Small_Writer



Category: Dance Academy
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Phone Calls, Protective Siblings, Siblings, TW - Vomiting, Worry, emotional breakdowns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Small_Writer/pseuds/One_Small_Writer
Summary: Three scarily similar phone calls between a brother and a sister as the life of Kat and her friends fall apart around them.
Relationships: Kat Karamakov & Ethan Karamakov
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Three Phone Calls

One - Sammy

Once Kat and Tara had pulled Abigail out of the cold shower, dried her to some extent, and passed her off to Ms. Raine, Kat ran.

She ran away from Tara, away from Abigail, away from Ollie and Ben and Christian and Ms. Raine. Away from the academy. She kept running despite the burning in her lungs, and the tears she couldn’t contain that blurred her vision and had almost sent her colliding into strangers various times. She just kept running.

Soon enough, she found herself at the hill. The hill they’d all frequent together. The hill that held some of her favourite memories, all containing him, that she now couldn’t bear to think about. She leaned in on herself, breaths coming in short, frantic bursts. She’d never see Sammy again. Never feel his hugs or his clammy hands again. Never hear his voice again. Never be around him again. Never see him again.

Bile rose in her throat, and she didn’t bother to hold it back. She threw up in the middle of the park on the hill and started crying harder. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out of her phone and fought with her wet, shaky hands to get to her contacts, scrolling down to E. Who cares what time it is in Barcelona, she needed her big brother.

She moved to sit against the tree as the phone dialed, there was no chance she could keep herself standing any longer.

“Kat? What’s going on?” His voice was groggy like he’d just woken up, but she could still pick out the confusion in his voice.

Kat didn’t answer, she couldn’t answer. The thought of saying it out loud physically pained her, made her feel sicker than she already felt. She just cried.

“Hey, Kitty Kat? What’s going on? What’s wrong?” His voice was suddenly alert, suddenly awake, and full of concern.

“It’s Sammy,” She managed to choke out between sobs and shuddering breaths. 

“Okay… what about Sammy?”

“He, he was hit by a car. He’s dead, Ethan, he’s dead!” She cried out in anguish. She couldn’t breathe, there was no air.

“Oh, Kitty... “ Ethan trailed off, unsure of what to say. He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach, and he wasn’t that close to him. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how Kat was feeling.

“I can’t… Ethan, I can’t” She gasped, a hand coming up to hold her neck, just like she had in the living room.

“Shh,” He hushed her gently, “Yes you can. Start counting, one to four, remember? Say them out loud so I can hear you.”

She started to count slowly between sobs, her hands ripping at the grass below her, and eventually, the tightness in her chest started to ease and her breath came back, but her sobs never ceased. 

“There you go,” Ethan praised, “Good job, you got through that.”

“It hurts, Ethan. Every bit of my being hurts.” She cried.

“I know Kitty Kat, and I’m so, so sorry. I’m not going to give you some long speech about grief and all that, because I know that won’t do anything but make you worse, but I want you to remember the support system you’re surrounded by. You’ve got everyone at the academy who’s experiencing the same thing as you, and I’m only ever a phone call away, no matter what time it is.”

“Thank you. For that and for not giving me a speech about how it’s all going to be okay because it’s not. It’s not okay and it’s not fair because he was the best of all of us, and he had so much ahead of him and it’s all been snatched. He didn’t deserve it,” The tears were back in full force, and she made no effort to conceal them, “And it’s made me realize how I take everyone around me for granted, I’m such a screw-up and I always ruin all my relationships but he was the only one who always stuck by me and look... I love you. I don’t say it enough but I should because one day you could be gone and…”

“Kat,” He cut her off, “You’re spiraling, okay? Breathe in and out. I love you too, and you don’t have to worry about not saying it enough. Everyone you love knows you love them,”

She followed his instructions, breathing in and out slowly. “Where are you anyway? Are you at the academy?”

“No,” She sighed, “I’m at the hill. I ran away, as usual.”

Choosing to ignore her self deprecating comment, he sighed as well. “Look, I know you don’t want to go back, but you have to. You can’t be alone right now, you need to be with the others.” 

She nodded as if he could see her, standing on shaky legs. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll go back.”

“Good. I hope you know I’m going to be calling you a trillion times a day from now on, just in case something happens,”

Kat let out a watery laugh. “Of course, goodbye Ethan.”

“Stay Strong Kitty Kat.”

She smiled weakly as he hung up the phone. She didn’t feel very strong, she felt the opposite. How could she be strong with Sammy gone?

Willing herself not to go right back to where she started, she began the walk back to the boarding house with a heavy heart and eyes overflowing with tears.

2 - Tara

Sirens wailed. Thunder crashed. There were tears from many. Others yelled instead.

Kat kneeled numbly next to Tara, holding her hand and telling her everything would be okay (Not that she believed it herself). She could hear Abigail talking to the ambulance dispatchers, and eventually paramedics.

She let Christian drag her away when a pair of blue uniforms approached her, she let Christian hold her into him and more and more ambo’s, some of which were MICAs, (Something which, as downright terrifying as it was, was expected) showed up.

Still, she was numb. Everything going on around her felt like an out of body experience, like whatever was inside her had left and just the shell of her body was the thing left watching. She kept watching as Tara was loaded into an ambulance with a promise she’d meet her at the hospital.

She ran out of the Opera House, Christian on her tail, and called a taxi, her heart slowly starting to beat faster and faster, and as soon as she hung up she dialed Ethan.

“Kat!” He cheered the second he picked up the phone, “The movie star! How was the premiere?” She looked down at her dress, biting her lip. The premiere felt like a lifetime ago now. It didn’t matter anymore.

“Ethan,” Her voice cracked as she spoke, the numbness melting away and the emotion hitting her unforgivingly.

“What? What’s wrong?” The cheer was dropped, concern taking its place. A sense of deja vu set in her stomach, and that’s all it took for the tears to boil over, spilling down her cheeks.

“It’s Tara. She, she slipped doing her solo and… she told me she couldn’t feel her legs!” A sob erupted from her throat, and her entire body began to tremble. Christian, who she hadn’t acknowledged was there until now, walked over to her, taking her back into his arms.

“Oh my god,” Ethan gasped, “How’d she do that? Is she okay?”

“Of course she’s not okay! She can’t feel her legs! She fell straight on her back!” Kat yelled down the phone.

“Right, right. Sorry. I was shocked. What’s going on now? Are you okay? I mean obviously not I can hear you crying, but still,” His voice was fast, less collected than normal, and Kat could tell he really was worried.

“She’s in an ambulance, and I’m waiting for a taxi so I can meet her at the hospital. Ethan, I’m so scared. She’s going to have to have surgery, what if something goes wrong? I can’t lose another best friend, I can’t lose her. She’s my sister, I can’t!” Her breathing sped up, and she felt Christian squeeze her, grounding her and wordlessly reminding her to breathe.

“Shh, I know. The doctors and surgeons won’t let her die. They’re professionals who probably deal with this sorta stuff all the time. She’s in the safest hands possible.” He told her calmly.

“I know, I know. The doctors have helped her once, they can do it again, right? But then again…”

“No, no buts. You’ll spiral and that isn’t going to help anything. Where are the others? Are you going to stick with them? Please go to the hospital with someone else, I don’t think I like the idea of you being alone at the moment.” She shook her head in agreement, another sob escaping her lips.

“Abi’s talking to Ms, Raine and Dr. Wicks, and I couldn’t tell you where Ben, Ollie and Grace are, but Christian’s here. I’m not by myself” She explained, sniffing periodically. Christian offered a tight-lipped smile in response.

“Okay, good. Stay with him please,”

“I will,” She assured him.

“And you’ll call with any updates, won’t you? Or if you need anything?”

“I will. Look, Ethan, I’m gonna have to go. I’ll call, I promise”

“Okay, and you’re okay?”

“I’m not, but I’ll get there. I feel scarily numb, but I’ve got people. I’ll be okay eventually.”

“Stay strong, Kitty Kat, and congratulations on your premiere,” Kat nodded, moving her phone away from her ear and letting it sit limply in her hand.

The taxi pulled up, and Kat took a deep breath, pulling away from Christian but instantly grabbing his hand. She was going to collect herself, and she was going to stay strong.

Tara needs her.

3 - Ben

With a shaking hand, Kat picked up the phone from her lap, the object that over the past weeks had become her worst nightmare. She wanted nothing more than to hide from everyone she knew, to never talk to anyone again, but once news got through to her that Ben was sick, really sick, she knew that wasn’t an option anymore. She couldn't hide away when there was a scarily high chance Ben might die.

That would be selfish of her.

She dialed Ethan’s number, unsure of what else to do. In the past four years, he’d been her go-to person for when she and her friend's lives would take another massive blow like this, and although she was aware he was one of the many people calling her non-stop (The thought of him knowing made everything feel even worse, He would be so ashamed), that wasn’t going to change. She needed him, and he was still her brother. She held the phone to her ear, holding her breath.

“Kat! Oh my God, I’ve been so worried about you! Why didn’t you answer any of my calls?” His voice was truly frantic, going a thousand miles an hour.

“Ethan…” She tried to interrupt, but he kept talking.

“You have no idea how panicked I was! Imagine, casually sitting in a waiting room of a job agency, watching some shitty tabloid channel that's practically on mute and look, there’s my baby sister. Naked! And then she wouldn’t answer any of my hundred calls. I thought you’d done something drastic Kat, you don’t exactly have the best track record!”

“Ethan, please…” She tried again.

“What happened anyway? Do you even know? Who were you sending things like that to Kat? Do you understand how serious this is? My God, you are so lucky dad and Natasha don’t know about this yet,”

“Ethan! Stop talking for two seconds and let me speak!” She snapped loudly before remembering where she was and lowering her voice. “Something’s happened. It’s serious and I’m sorta freaking out and I need you to listen to me. Ben’s cancer is back, and it’s back bad. He’s in a coma, and the doctors don’t know if he’s going to wake up…” She trailed off sadly. There were no tears left for her to cry, Lord knows that’s all she’d been doing for days, but she was scared. Really scared.

“Jesus Christ, Kat” Ethan sighed.

“I don’t know what to do. Ollie’s told us he’s already flat-lined once. Ethan, you can’t tell anyone, but recently I’ve sorta somehow developed feelings for him and I’m so scared I’m never going to be able to tell him. He’s always the goofy, cheery one. The one that keeps us all sane with his contagious happiness. If he dies too we’re all going to fall apart and I…”

“Breaths Kat. He’ll wake up. He’s strong, and he’s fought this so many times before. He knows what’s waiting for him when he wakes up. As for your feelings, you’ll tell him one day. Keep reminding yourself of that,” He told her, taking a deep breath to calm himself down, “But Kat, you’ve got to look after yourself. You’ve clearly had two big knocks, take some time away.”

“No,” She said instantly, “There’s no wayI’m leaving him here. If he dies and I’m not here, I’ll never forgive myself,”

“Well, I can’t control your life, but please just, look after yourself. Please. And I know I give you this advice every time but please stick with the others,”

“Ollie’s here all the time too, don’t worry.”

“Good. Well, I’m gonna leave you there, and I’ll call back about, everything else, once the whole Ben thing sorts itself out. Call or text with updates,”

“I will, and thank you. For listening to me rant and not, trying to lecture me again.”

“That’s what big brothers are for. Stay strong Kitty Kat,” 

She smiled sadly and hung up, taking Ben’s hand back in hers and holding it to her lips, kissing his knuckles lightly.

“Please wake up Ben,” She mumbled, “Please.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm extremely addicted on Dance Academy and have been for seven years now, so here we are.  
> I've thought of 21 fic ideas in the past 24 hours.


End file.
